I think part of the problem is that many people are not confident or knowledgeable about using FB and Instagram - creatives are notoriously bad at self promotion anyway and many of the crafters are older and not particularly computer savvy (myself included).
There is also an element of time commitment - where you are spending too much time promoting online with little time for creating - for many this turns the whole exercise into an unenjoyable trudge so they become disillusioned and give up.
I see folksy as a great interface between shopper and creator but it is only a shop front and probably shouldnât focus much on promoting individual shops..
However I would like to see from Folksy more promotion on itself as a âmarketplaceâ âWe are a safe, friendly and efficient place to shop for artâ - Get the name out there and make it synonymous with integrity âFolksy home of genuine handmade Arts and Crafts - buy and sell with confidence because we offer the real deal from exclusively British makersâ.
It is in all our interests to get the Folksy name out there!
It will be interesting to see what you find out Brett. I do think that the lack of recognition of the Folksy Brand is a bit disappointing and might be the reason for âreluctance to commit to buyingâ. I look forward to more info.
I feel as people do not know a Folksy like E⌠I prefer to direct to my shop with no reference to F. Okay on the link but they have looked at the item then clicked which takes them straight to my shop. Had loads of sales that way. They may see Folksy and think who is that, some will investigate further others will not bother, hence just mention my shop rather than the platform,
I am dabbling in FB boosts. First try yesterday and spending minimum amount just to see the difference. However I came to Folksy to see what the data looked liked after one day and sadly they are doing an update and data will be lower than it should be. My bad luck. I still have my google analytics to look at so should get an idea of impact. A sale would be even better!
@Fififoxi just to make it absoloutly clear im not folksy bashing it really is a purley observational post in general. Ive been a member of a couple of other web sites ie cmuk and found by far folksy to be the better one i think probably because of the forum facility.
To address a couple of your points i agree some more mature of us are not so savvy when it comes to fb etc but youd be suprised at how many are.
As for the time it takes well ill be honest clicking all those hearts on the 365 daily challange is very time consuming yet we all do this happily. And to be honest it really doesnt do a huge amount in the way of promotion.
When using facebook if you hit the right circumstances what you promote can go mental. Ive found though this can be dependant on time of posting, day of posting , if theres a y in the month âŚits a dark artâŚill give an example
A few years ago i bought a lathe after an initial accident i left it alone until i saw a gonk on fb and thought bet i could make one of them . So i did and i posted it on a fb page called gonks anonimous it went mental! I had orders comming out my ears.
The next few i made had very much luke warm reactions yet they were just as good or better âŚ
I discovered that posting to this particular group worked better if posted on a friday evening around about 9.00pm to this day i dont know why. Im guesding that a combination of boring tv end of working week and wine have much to do with it.
The point is you only need to get a like off the 1or2 right people then all hell can break loose
My advice for fb is join as many relavent groups as pos always share to your groups and test times to post to
@coolforglass be wary of paying fb for boosted posts i tried them i found that i got tons of views but hardly any relevant also when i stopped paying boost fb carried taking payments in the end i had to end my direct debit to stop paying them i now apparantly owe fb ÂŁ86 and cant boost any posts till its paid not that im bothered lol
Thanks for letting me know @PurpleDragonartsandcrafts . I have set my limit to just ÂŁ3 over 3 days! Forever cautious! Not really sure if itâs worth it but will be keeping a close eye on the money side just in case.
Hope you get sorted with FB. I did read somewhere that it was more cost effective employing someone to market youâŚbut who can you trust online? I always block those that approach with messages.
@coolforglass seo is a nightmare im far from expert on it but my opinion is this. Its great if you can afford 300 -500 pounds a week but lets be honestthats not any of us! Us micro businesses sre very much at the bottom end of the list when you compare with the likes of moonpig or tesco etc.
The problem is once you pay fb to boost your post whos seeing it ? Ask yourself how many times you see a sponsored post on fb and think âwhy am i seeing this its no relavence to meâ well someone somewhere has paid for that post to appear on your timeline obliviious to the fact that its a complete waste of time its kinda like if you were vegan why would you want constant steak ads.i hope it works for you itll be interesting to see if it does but do be careful fb dont like stopping taking payment and theres noone listening when you say oi!
I definitely didnât think you were Folksy bashing Brett - itâs important for everyone to highlight concerns and observations and to be critical in a constructive way - I think thatâs what the forums are for - along with sharing helpful tips and encouraging & communicating generally.
With the facebook/Social media issue maybe itâs more to do with attitude rather than the ability to post. I do think many plus 50âs simply donât engage in SM because it requires a degree of self promotion and if you have always been a private person with just one or two good friends then belonging to lots of groups and having followers etc. seems quite daunting and goes against the grain.
I do agree that intelligent use of FB can be very rewarding but lots of people simply donât have the self confidence to do it - as to the timing of posting well that is an art in itself and I suspect luck plays a big part in it.
Iâm in 100% in agreement with what you were saying about boosting posts - Iâm very dubious about the effectiveness of this as at best it is a scattergun approach rather than a targeted marketing tool.
In the end getting yourself and your work seen is vital and FB, Instagram and Pinterest all have a part to play - so whether you enjoy promoting on social media or not is irrelevant - if someone wants sales it has got to be done. It also makes sense for us to promote fellow folksy members too as this increases everyones chances to be seen by fresh eyes.
@PurpleDragonartsandcrafts@Fififoxi thank you for your advice. Well my little experiment is coming to an end but unfortunately the data section on Folksy is still not working properly. Of all times for this maintenance to be done!
I included my direct link to my shop but the image takes you to Folksy homepage so if anyone has an unexpected increase of sales⌠alas up to now no online sales have resulted in this experiment.so back to the drawing board. I think I will try it again with fB but when the data on folksy is working!
When I do the occasional FB boost or even as an Ad instead, I specify my target audience and that excludes anyone under the age of 35 and includes 65 and unwards as I can see from my stats that is where my customers come from. I can also target specific interest group so it is certainly not entirely random who sees your promotions if you set them up ok.
They are not terribly effective and i only use them when traffic is really really low as a reminder to FB / Meta really that I have paid you some money so send me some viewers
I use boost if i want 10 photos as the ad option only lets me have 5 but I always include a link to my actual shop and that has always worked without a problem. It can only link to the url which I provide
At the moment my Mojo is working fine as I have very regular sales and have posted every day this week and one already waiting to go on Tuesday when the post office reopens. As long as I have customers I am a happy Easter bunny.
Happy Easter everyone
@coolforglass Deborah⌠Sorry I donât understand your reference to Folksy / Data problem. Can I help. I have used the boost quite a few times
Hi Joy @JOYSofGLASS
I think Deborah means that if you go to Folksy stats page there is a message to say they are doing maintenance and the figures wonât be accurate.
Ah thanks Kim, that puzzled me. Not been to my stats so had not seen that.
I tend to use GA as it is far more informative and shows stats over time not just a snapshot.
And the statistic I use most are my orders. Just had one in from Folksy so mojo on overdrive
Thanks @JOYSofGLASS yes it is Folksy data which has be out of use due to maintenance work. I think itâs a case of narrowing down my target audience. I have seen quite a few of your posts on FB so you must be doing it right. And to get sales from your effortsâŚwell done! Itâs a bit of a learning curve finding ways to market your products. Fingers crossed
If you can use Google Analytics you should be able to find your usual audience age group. I can see from there that there is certainly little point my pointing any promotion to under 40s⌠though i do sell to the occasional âyoungerâ person. I have been making and promoting my glass now for 15 years so have picked up a few useful things along the way. Good luck with yours
On FB boost for 3 days my photo reached about 600 but only 44 engagements costing ÂŁ3. Very disappointing I felt. But then the picture linked to folksy front page and my link to my shop was in the comments so no idea how many actually visited my shop. And no folksy data atm either. So will put that one to dipping my toe in the water. next time I will be more precise with the audience and check links, etc before posting.
Iâm currently experimenting after someone mentioned they had the shop plaftform tagged (not a link just a tag) and realised their views were down.
I often tag the shop platform (as that platform very kindly sometimes shares on their page and they have a far far better reach than mine) and I never use commercial words of any sort in the post and always put the listing link in the first comment not the post itself.
Yesterday I put the shop platform tag in the comment alongside the listing url And just checked. Views are 50% up on previous post and engagement is 100% up.
Will be doing some more experiments as there can be no doubt more reach = more sales
NB If I want to use words like Shop in the post then I use a number in place of a letter eg Sh0p BUT be aware if you do that and Then try to boost the post FB will not boost it⌠and irritatingly will not,once youâve asked to boost, let you edit the post to change the offending Sh0p to Shop.
I know as i have the t-shirt so if I am planning a boost i do actually use commerical words as FB is happy with them in an ad just not as a 'non-commercial not paid for post;. Meanies
PS I can see this on your most recent post :
When clicking on the Shop now button this will take you to the Folksy website. To find my shop search for Cool for Glass.
But when i hit your Shop Now button on your FB page it does take me straight to your shop here. You are SOOOO lucky. Mine used to and then they upgraded me and removed my Shop now button⌠only allowed it against one of their commercial shop facilitles which I do not want . I have a sort of work around but not a direct link like yours:
PPS so glad we had this âdiscussionâ . Went to my page to check if it would kindly let me have my Shop button back . It said no and my equivalent button is âContactâ not Shop which is i suppose better than nothing . I found it was though pointing at my own non selling website so have changed it back to my Shop here⌠which is where I left it and thought it was pointing .Very odd !!!
Hi Joy, without trying to sound totally dim âŚcan I just double check, on my FB posts where I write the description I always put the link to my Folksy shop and very often say â it is available from my online Folksy shop at wwwâŚetc.
Do you mean it is better not to put it there and instead
of using my shop link to use the link to the actual item being shared instead. All of this then goes in the comments section where other people leave comments.
Doesnât fb like the word âshopâ ?
My facebook is fairly rubbish now compared to a few years ago, I use to sell a huge amount on there but when I joined Folksy I lost a lot of local custom as people liked buying direct (a few friends still do) and didnât seem to like the changes. One major change looking back was I stopped putting prices on my posts as I thought if people wanted to know they would use the link to my shop. Iâve never really thought about it before as everything changed at once. Maybe I should try adding prices to some posts and see what happens, I know if I go into a nice shop and there are no prices in the items I often donât bother asking and walk out again.
I Never, on the actual post, put any actual link to either my shop or the listing within it.
As far as i understand it FB really want you to set up your shop on their own sales platform so will not exactly assist you if you try to sell somewhere else ⌠via a free post that is. If you are paying for an ad you can tag / link anything you want and should.
Commerical words like Order payment pounds shop shopping are also a bad idea and i am pretty sure will reduce your reach.
I do put a shop link, but in the comment not the main post, of course as I am a great believer in click and buy but I would Always put the link to the listing itself not to shop level so if the âcustomerâ happens to spot something before they have time to change their mind, searching your shop for it, they have clicked, in their basket, paid and Bobâs my lovely husband
You do do nicely with yours though as I often see your temptingly beautiful bears and to date have not justified owning one but never say never )
PS the above spiel is my interpretation of what FB does. If anyone wants to correct or add to that please feel free
Thank you Joy, that makes total sense, I will stop adding the word âshopâ etc and might try a few prices, will also add the link to the item in the comments.
My fb page use to attract a lot of local followers and orders so worth a try, although tbf my prices are much higher than they once were and I have more online orders nowadays.
Laughed as i often say â and Bobâs your uncleâ might have to start saying â and Bobâs Joyâs hubbieâ instead
I still have my google analytics to look at so should get an idea of impact. A sale would be even better!
âŚcan I just double check, on my FB posts where I write the description I always put the link to my Folksy shop and very often say â it is available from my online Folksy shop at wwwâŚetc.